He Blinded Me with Science!

Brown Eyes rolled into double digits this fall.

He's my quintessential middle son. After I wrote that, I had to do a quick search to make sure that I knew what all I was including in that statement. The website I was checking out says that there are two types of middle children...Brown Eyes would be the quintessential Middle Child #2: outgoing, friendly, loud, laid back, and patient. And loud. Did I mention that one already?

Anywho, he is the most tender-hearted kid I know. And I don't mean that in a wimpy, thin-skinned kind of way; I mean he has more compassion and tenderness than should fit in his little body.

So I'm getting off track...he turned 10. And he's sweet. So I wanted to do something special for his birthday party. He also loves science, so rather than trying to find some awesome party-in-a-box thing, we got creative.

I observed that we should have areas in which we could analyze as many areas of science as we could. So here's a sample of what we did to construct his day in a Weird Science kind of way:

So of course we had to activate the thing with some solidified carbon dioxide (a.k.a. dry ice)...

...and some creepishly huge insects in jello lab jars in the windows...

...eyeball beakers were certainly in order...

...as well as a petri dish cake. Complete with multiple bacteria and lab rats.

We had a substantial collection of experiments to investigate, and we initiated the plan with a scavenger hunt Data Discovery game.

Hopefully, you've noticed by now how much linguistically scientific I have become since this party.


Ummmm....yeah. Anyway. Back to discovering data....

I wrote clues with a lemon juice and corn starch composite on regular paper, and classified a set for each team. One clue connected with the next so that the team collectively determined what clue they were to find next. Can you guess what picture they were to find based on this clue?

Once they evaluated and understood the clue, they had to search for a picture of that clue that I had hidden in the yard. At that point, they opened up the paper to reveal the next clue. (I had a separate line of clues for each team.) Watching them run around the yard trying to be the first team to find all of their clues was the best part of this game.

Once they had discovered all their clues, this was the specimen they found...

And now that they each had their own set of protective eyewear, we were ready for some experiments...

We concocted a silly bandz lava lamp using oil, water, food coloring, alka-seltzer, and of course, science-shaped silly bandz!

We interblended white school glue, Borax, and food coloring to make the classic Gooey Gunk, which many of the boys had never handled before. If you've got boys and have never made this, go here for the recipe. It's a good dose of awesomeness for a kid.

Lil'bit's face cracks me up in this one...

We also put a penny inside (almost) clear balloons, blew it up, and then shook the balloon in a circular motion to illustrate centripetal force.

We performed a couple of other small experiments before going inside for cake and ice cream, but I have to say this picture just beats all...the moment the best friend of the birthday boy realized his beaker was staring at him...

And last, but not least...we burned off a little steam with an explosion of epic proportions...mentos and diet coke.

We tested several of these explosions, but this was the best picture recorded...and the very first one we launched. We estimated about 30 feet of diet coke lift.

Incidentally, if you are ever in need of either 1) all kinds of science-related equipment or accessories; or 2) wasting a profusion of time unnecessarily, you must visit the American Science and Surplus website. I haven't laughed that hard from shopping in a really long time. The product titles and descriptions are hilarious!

My personal favorite: the product title for temporary tattoos = Rebel without a Commitment

Have fun!

Mr. Potato Sack Race and Other Childish Shenanigans

Lil'bit had him a new birthday, which catapulted me right into the series of parenting that no longer includes a toddler or preschooler. Wow. Time...it does fly.

I figured this slideshow would be the best way to document his Toy Story 3 party. Notice in the picture of Buzz and Woody "defending the galaxy"...they are standing in front of a bowl of Milky Way candies...aha ha...I slay me. Enjoy!

The Time I Made My Family Drive Six Hours for a Cheeseburger

That title makes me sound a little demanding. I'm really not very demanding. But when I'm in the mood for a good ol' Whataburger, I'm not gonna let a little thing like distance get in the way.

Have you ever had a favorite something that you would really go out of your way to get to...even if it meant dragging your whole family down with you?

I was born and raised in South Texas. Whataburger and I share the same hometown, which means that where I grew up, there are more Whataburgers than fleas on a dog.

Bad analogy.

Let's say: there are more Whataburgers than fries in a Whata-size.

Better analogy.

My point: I ate a lot of Whataburger. Number 7 with cheese, please. All the way. Unless it's time for breakfast, in which case I'd like a Bob: Breakfast on a Bun.

The closest Whataburger to where we live now is in Birmingham, Alabama. I live in Georgia. There are Whataburgers in Alabama and Florida, but somehow the WB family has neglected the state of Georgia. Believe me, I have sent many a-complaint to WB Headquarters.

So when my birthday rolled around in September, I decided I wanted that Number 7...in spite of the three hour one-way drive.

Well it was my birthday; I wasn't about to go alone.

DH was all for it, because he loves the WB as much as I do. And my boys are always up for a road trip, so we set out on the interstate in want of a great burger and fries.

The trouble was that I had no idea what else we'd do while we were in Birmingham. But I figured there had to be some antique stores or something that I could torture my all-male family with, so I was content with that.

However, it's not like me to go somewhere and not have some kind of an idea, so I did a little research first. I found an old bookstore in downtown Birmingham called Jim Reed Books and The Museum of Fond Memories. (Sidebar: when the owner answers the phone, he says, "Reed Books...." I thought that was worth posting.)

The quote at the top of his website was a review of the store:

"To call Reed Books an 'old bookstore' is a bit like saying the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel has a good paint job." -- Allen Johnson Jr., author

As a lover of just about all things old, and especially old books, I just had to go there.

I was not disappointed...about the Whataburger or the book store.


We found the Whataburger first as it was just about lunch time and we were all starving.

This was the lovely lady who greeted us at the counter. She knew something was up when I walked in with my Nikon 35 mm camera taking pictures. I never saw her without that sweet smile on her face. She just about made my day, and I think we might have improved her day, too. She could not get over the fact that we had just driven in from North of Atlanta just for Whataburger.

We ate our wonderful, hot, delicious lunch and laughed with the staff and the other customers in the restaurant, who were as sweet as pie. And to prove it, that wonderful lady gave us all free fried pies before we left, just because we came all the way there just to see them. It was a treat well worth waiting for.

Here's Mini me after our meal, a.k.a. Les Miserables.

We made our way back on the road to look for this bookstore I had read about, and it revealed itself about 20 minutes later. Getting out of our truck parked on the curb in front of the store, I could hardly contain myself. There were squeals and claps and beaming smiles oozing from my being. I hadn't even entered the store yet.

We finally got past the storefront, which was interesting in and of itself, and much to my amazement we opened the door to this.

Immediately to the left of me just inside the door was this.

We didn't need to find any other antique store; this was going to suit my purpose juuuuuust fine.

We spent three hours in this one store, and I didn't even get to see everything. What's even more amazing than that is the fact that in three hours, my three boys didn't even get bored! Well, maybe a little at the end, but I'm telling you there was something for everybody in this place. Mini me got a couple of Star Wars books, Lil bit got a cheap plastic hero mask from the 1970's (huh?) and I got a coupla things for my birthday, too.

 
This glorious cabinet housed books that Mr. Reed kept locked away until someone asked to see them. They were either extremely rare, extremely old, or otherwise extremely expensive. In his acute discernment, he sensed my quivering excitement and pulled a book out of this cabinet that was no less than 450 years old and let me flip through it.

I was dumbfounded.


So much so that I forgot to take a picture of it before he put it back in the cabinet. :-/


Once we left antiquity paradise on earth, can you guess where we stopped before going home?

We had to eat dinner, didn't we?

My Wonderful Birthday

My birthday was last month, so the fam and I decided to head north for the first time of the autumn season.

And no, I'm not really 25. Brown Eyes made that card for me...would you look at those lips? He asked DH how old I was going to be, and 25 was his response. What a man.

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I love going up in the mountains during the fall. When you can catch a day that's not raining, the air is crisp, the aroma is either a musky pine medley or a cinnamon apple cider, depending on whether you're indoor or out. Almost any establishment you enter in the north Georgia mountains will offer some form of apple-something. It's apple season up here, and it's wonderful.

Along the way, we hit a few of my favorite antique stores because my DH both knows me and loves to spoil me. He more than tolerates antique stores; he actually enjoys most of them as long as it actually has antiques in it. Especially antique guns, knives, blacksmith tools, etc.

After a little shopping, wherein I bought myself a 1938 Illustrated World History book...



...we went to Amicalola Falls. Yeah, I figured spell check wouldn't like that. It's pronounced {am-i-ca-lola} with a short i. The word is derived from the Cherokee language, and it means tumbling waters. It is the highest waterfall in the State of Georgia, and it is absolutely beautiful.





There are three places from which to view this cascade: the bottom, from across the middle of it, and from the top. In the middle, the state built a path around the mountain from a parking lot to a bridge that goes across the falls and then continues down in hundreds of steps. We chose to drive because we didn't think the kids could handle the hike up all those stairs, but you can walk from the bottom to the top if you like!

This picture was taken on the bridge that crosses over.





Here's another one of the boys and me. Look at my sweet li'l dumplin' there on the left. Isn't he just the sweetest thing ever? {insert sarcasm here.}




Here's the view from the top of the falls as it goes over the edge. It's just beautiful!




I can't seem to resist taking pictures of pretty flowers.




Here's Lil'bit on the slide. We stopped by the "prayground" while we were there.



Here's my Brown Eyes posing on the side of the trail...what a handsome kid.



This one's kinda funny. Although I don't think I would have wanted to be the one in the truck when it fell off the side of the mountain and was finally caught by the trees!


That's a very old pick up truck, in case you can't make it out.



This is Brown Eyes hanging out in a tree beside the small, quiet creek that feeds that massive waterfall!




After Amicalola Falls, we drove around the mountains hitting more antique stores and a couple of pumpkin patches.

This is the parking lot of one that we stopped at briefly before moving on to our favorite place.




Then we got to Burt's Farm. We love this place! We have sweet memories of coming here during the first couple of months after moving here, seven years ago.




These are pretty...




These are, um, unique?...




But these are my favorite punkins of all...



You can pick a wheel barrow if you need to haul one of those grand-daddy pumpkins!




Here's my oldest, Mini-me...he looks like a young man to me now. Wow.




Brown Eyes by the baby pumpkins. They have every size you can imagine.



When went to the top of the mountain on which Amicalola Falls runs, we stopped by The Lodge, which is a place we love to stop just to go in the lobby and look out the huge glass windows...


This view is even better the more the leaves are changing.


Before we went, the boys shared a quick checkers game by the windows.


What a blessing my family is to me, and how thankful I am that we got to spend my special day together in such a lovely place.

What's your favorite thing to do for your special day?